Your Seattle Elopement! How to Have Fun, Select a Unique Location and Create a Great Memory…

Seattle is a great city for an elopement! If you and your Sweetheart would like to elope to Seattle and create a lovely “wedding day memory,” here is a “mini overview” to assist you in creating a fun elopement experience with a unique location or venue.Each year, hundreds of couples from all parts of the country elope to Seattle. In fact, because of the booming Summer cruise line industry, Seattle is popularity for elopements, particularly with couples who are eloping in the popular sunny Summertime months and often before taking an Alaska cruise.
No matter if you are “local,” from a neighboring city or town or are flying or driving into Seattle to get hitched, here are some pointers to consider as you plan your wedding escape!Create a Fun Elopement in Seattle: Seattle is a fun and lively city and is very welcoming of couples of all faiths and traditions and their unique and fun ideas for a wedding ceremony.Do you want to be married on a popular and beautiful beach like Alki Beach in Hawaiian clothing, leis and in your bare feet?
Perhaps the thought of being married at the top of The Space Needle appeals to you? Or better yet, what about getting married on the Seattle Monorail, at the Seattle Aquarium, the Pike Place Market or on the downtown Seattle Street car? Some couples bring a beloved pet with them and get married at one of the local dog parks including Magnuson Park and Marymoor Park.Where To Elope in Seattle ~ Your Location/Venue: If you are eloping, your wedding is all abut the two of you and having a little fun. If you are being married outside of a religious institution, you have incredible options for your elopement. In the city of Seattle and surrounding areas you have a lot of flexibility with regard to the location and/or venue for your elopement: amazing parks, gorgeous waterfront venues, downtown Seattle’s bustling waterfront area, sweet chapels, mountains, ferries and much more.As you consider “where” in Seattle to elope, you also need to factor in the weather. If you are being married in July and August, chances are you’ll have decent weather. If you are eloping during the other 10 months of the year, and knowing Seattle, weather is a wild card. So, if you are being married outside, also have “Plan B” in the event the weather turns. ‘Plan B” could be at your bed and breakfast, at your hotel or perhaps at a restaurant before your celebration meal.Added Tips For Creating a Great “Seattle Elope” Memory: Visit Seattle’s Pike Place Market the day before or day of your wedding and purchase an inexpensive and fun bouquet and flowers for your elopement.Do a little digging and find a wedding photographer would be thrilled to join you for two hours of photos and capture your wedding moment. Seattle is home to some terrific cupcake shops and also has wonderful bakeries for a non-traditional wedding pie or tart.
Also, contact the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau for fun and unique places to stay – hotels, bed and breakfasts, charming inns, etc.

And here you are, loving each other, and with the enormous intention and challenge to be married, to get married, during Covid 19.

So, here’s the deal on how to do this, short and sweet, for you, in Washington State.

I am writing this UPDATE POST on May 14th, and we’re in the middle of Phase 1.

As a State, we need to get to Phase 2 in order to have a gathering of 5 people or less, which allows for a small and intimate wedding ceremony, with social distancing measures. At least, this is what I am interpreting, with others in our wedding community, from the Governor’s Covid 19 directives.

In a perfect world, Phase 2 will commence on June 1st. Of course, the State may push this date back, depending on our numbers.

If you are planning a small ceremony for June, please consider securing a valid Washington State Marriage License NOW. You are within the 60 day application window, and because Offices are not open to in-person visits, it takes extra time to get your marriage license documents, via on-line and snail mail.

For all of this you will need a valid Washington State Marriage License, 2 witnesses over the age of 18, a location/venue for your ceremony and someone lovely to marry you (hopefully me).

So, how do you get married during Covid 19, if you live in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Snohomish, any part of the Puget Sound or Washington State?

You don’t.

Under the Governor’s order in Washington State, ‘no weddings’ right now.

Yes, the Marriage License offices are issuing marriage licenses and they are recording them. This is what they do.

The best guidance on what is allowed during the State’s shelter-in-place order (from the Governor’s Office and King County Executive’s office) is no weddings.

So, if the two of you desire to get all hitched up, and you live anywhere in Washington State, or want to travel here to do so, what do you do?

You wait until May 4th for updated guidance, when the Governor hopefully lifts the ‘no wedding order.’ My hope is that this ‘no wedding’ restriction will be lifted, allowing a roll-out of small weddings (5 people: Officiant, Couple and 2 Witnesses).

And with this, if you don’t yet have a valid Washington State Marriage License, you can secure one from any County. The offices aren’t open right now, so you have to do everything the old fashioned way.

If you have questions, if I can be helpful. I am here. Once the stay-at-home order is lifted, I am fully available to officiate for you…